


A Universal History of Infamy, Volume II

by syrupwit



Category: Dishonored (Video Games)
Genre: Drabble Sequence, Gen, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-09
Updated: 2020-07-09
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:21:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25156930
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/syrupwit/pseuds/syrupwit
Summary: Continuation of the popular reference work, published 1891.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 8
Collections: Multifandom Drabble 2020





	A Universal History of Infamy, Volume II

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kay_obsessive](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kay_obsessive/gifts).



> The title and some of the subheadings in this fic are direct references to the [book of the same name](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Universal_History_of_Infamy) by JL Borges.
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

**_THE DREAMER IN THE DEEP_ **

_From rags found wrapped around a bit of carved whalebone._

...cannot abide. In time, the Void will devour all things. It eats at him; it eats at you. At the end, nothing else will remain.

In the still, cold depths of that fathomless ocean, the dead boy dreams the world. His skin is tender as seafoam, and his flesh has the fearful pallor of one drowned. His eyes are black and shining as wet stones. There is a song behind his voice, sweet and solemn, like whalesong. If you prize your life, you cannot listen.

**_THE WITCH WHO WAS MADE TO WAIT_ **

Natural philosophy elucidates the tragedy of dipsomaniacs, those whose passion for distilled spirits was ascribed in times past to mental weakness or an imbalance among the ethers. Between 1843-1845, a famous brothel engaged the protection of one such unhappy soul. Galia Fleet was ill-thought of, but she preserved a single friend past her disappearance, a wretch who had once joined her in practicing black magic. He feared she had succumbed to those same powers, and that master, whose abrupt and mysterious abandonment had first provoked her to intemperance. Her bones were never found.

_**ON EXACTITUDE IN SCIENCE** _

Some months prior to his expulsion from the Academy, a man called Jindosh invented a curious looking-glass. Internal mirrors and pulleys allowed the glass's user to magnify his reflection to any degree that was desired. Unlike its contemporaries, this looking-glass preserved the scarcest detail, so that one could take a precise perspective on his own skin. Several people were driven mad by the device, which induced in its victims a strong mania for comparison. They inspected their appearances in the looking-glass at least thrice daily, to determine any changes that could have gone enacted without notice.

_**ON KNIVES** _

Though the profusion of Dunwellian knife-lore demands a dedicated field of study, the rest of the Empire is not without similar tales. Karnacan knives enjoy elaborate narratives of criminal vengeance, while the knives of rural Serkonos produce blood feuds and intergenerational tragedies propelled by unthinking violence. In Morley, knives aid folk heroes, inspire the leaders of rebellions, or yield miraculous harvests. Tyvia, strangely, lacks knife-tales—one supposes their ubiquity in that country to discourage romance—but reports out of Tyvian prison camps have described an abominable two-pronged knife. Unlike most legendary knives, this item may truly have existed.

_**ON DOUBLES** _

The Duke of Serkonos had a body double. The double abhorred cigars; or perhaps that was the Duke. It is well known the Duke smoked cigars. Or was it the double? In later years, a man lost the taste for them altogether. That much is verified.

During the reign of that unnameable witch, a statue of Corvo Attano appeared and disappeared. Some believe he was the same man, made stone and then revived. Others hold that Attano died the moment the statue existed, and that a double took his place, an exact copy down to his very memories.

**_THE EMPRESS OF THE ISLES_ **

History celebrates her, but we cannot forget that time when Emily the Just was driven from Gristol—the handful of weeks when our Empress was forced into hiding for her life’s sake. While treasonous rumors still circulate on her exploits during this period, it is clear to any scholar of repute that the unrest acted as a trial-by-ordeal for the Empress, a crucible whose fires forged her into the ruler so beloved across the Isles. That she always wore gloves thereafter, even in private, is clearly a personal affectation and cannot support allegations of heresy.

**_THE THRONE OF THE PRETENDER_ **

For a season we worshiped her. Though her name has since been stricken from every record—her paintings consigned to flame, her monuments demolished or salvaged for wiser ends—no citizen of those days yet living can forget her face. It was said that Emily I kept the usurper's final work in her secret chamber, where she went to gaze upon it and shed tears of compassion. The painting shows the false Empress seated in a throne room, twin to the true one in every respect. Though her pose changes often, she is always smiling.

**_THE DEPTHS WITHOUT A DREAMER_ **

_Inscription inside the back cover of a book given to our young Emperor by his great-aunt, Beatrici Attano, who disappeared at sea immediately thereafter. The page is torn, the handwriting unknown._

…such sweet songs. But you cannot listen. They will drag you down and never let you up. 

The great beasts’ grief echoes unanswered through the Void. Their lives are as our dreams, far and forsaken. Soon they will wholly pass away, and our world will be silent, though not for long. One does not like to imagine the songs our children’s children will hear.


End file.
